TALES OF HOFFMANN

If you saw the Powell/Pressberger film "Red Shoes" and didn't like it then you're not going to like this film either, because it's Red Shoes on steroids.

I like Red Shoes a lot but I sympathize with people who cringe at the almost too rich, over-the-top gaudiness of it. Even so, the film is a neat piece of work and so is its 1951 successor, "Tales of Hoffmann." I just saw Hoffman over the weekend at Steve Worth's house and that's what I'll talk about here.

The opera was written by Offenbach in 1880 or thereabouts. He died months before the play opened and while the music and libretto were still undergoing changes, a significant fact it turns out.

Since there were different and disputed versions of the original manuscript, successive producers took liberties with the opera and customized it to their liking.

That liability turned out to be an asset. The opera is never without backers who want to attach their own vision to it and as a result it's been staged frequently and creatively through the years, with enormous variety in the art direction.

The Powell/Pressberger version (above) is a tour de force of visual style. It ranges from a kind of dry-brushy, modern type...

...to designs derived from old tapestries and beer steins...

...to a kind of impressionistic surrealism (above) reminiscent of Odilon Redon.

I'll digress for a moment to explain that Redon (his work, above) was a French symbolist painter of the 19th Century. That movement was a precursor of Surrealism. You don't hear a lot about it anymore, and it's not really my taste, but it was tremendously influential in theatrical design.

Anyway, the dominant background style of the film is a surreal take on the traditional Romantic ballet style (above). Even in that context there's plenty of innovation. Take this shot, for example. Note the color and lighting on the archway of marionette heads.

There's a cut to a close-up as the ballerina dances closer to camera and when we return to a wider shot the colors and lighting have changed. Not only that but the marionette heads have been switched for slightly different ones. Look closely...some of them aren't the same.


 Martin Scorsese is a big fan of this film. He likes the unreality of it and claims that he learned how to compose cinematic scenes from it. He also got the idea of shooting to music from this film.

Here's the trailer. If you buy it be careful, though. Americans will want the version that plays on our electronics.

STILL MORE VIDEO GAME SKETCHES

Above, a wacky Mount Rushmore-type background for the Western Level. I hate to say it, but it probably didn't work very well. A vivid border graphic like this brings too much attention to the level's edge, which should appear limitless.

Here's a Chief's Hut for the Jungle Level.

Haw! Here's another version of the Chief's Hut. I thought about crowning it with a big bone but some might have found that offensive. Geez, I can think of a bunch of ideas for this that weren't apparent at the time. I wish I could take another shot at this.  

This one (above) was for the Haunted House Level. The skater peels off the wall onto a trap door which takes him to another corridor. 

Yes, guns make every game better. 

Here (above) the skater skates around the walls, avoiding the mouth that tries to eat him.

The mouth widens to include the entire floor (above, bottom left) and the big tongue snags the skater. I was asked to modify this and the changed version appears on the upper left. I'm ashamed to say that I can't remember who cleaned this up. 

This sketch (above) wasn't done for the video game...it was for an insurance company...but I include it here because I wish I'd thought of it when I did the game. If there had been an American city level I could have had the skater run into zealous Boy Scouts who walk pedestrians across the street, whether they like it or not.

   

Above, the edge of a Western town. The boardwalk leads to a mine and an Indian village.

Geez, there's more I could post but maybe that wouldn't be fair to Atlus, who I believe is the copyright holder. 

MORE VIDEO GAME IDEAS

I thought the Theme Park Level needed a Founding Genius (above) who was ever present, compulsively making sure the park ran okay. These sketches weren't approved, maybe because they looked too much like Disney.

Too much fairy dust (above) prompts The Founder to reach for his bug spray. I posited that The Founder regarded the skateboarder as a bug marring the perfection of his park, and he tried to eliminate him.

Above, theme park stuff. 

Two of these sketches were done for the Japan level, the sun was for the Western level. I should have left more space for what I hoped would be beautiful Japanese lettering on the scrolls.

Here's a Tokyo sketch (above) that also wasn't approved, and its easy to guess why. Tokyo is envied throughout the world for its low rate of crime, and a situation like this just doesn't apply. It's too bad because it would have been fun to try to imagine what a cartoony "bad side of town" would look like.

Above, nixed for the same reason...also understandably. The nice thing about quick sketches is that when they don't fly they can be put aside without much time being lost.

Of course the Tokyo Level is riddled with ninjas (above).

Haw! Here's some generic villagers from the Fantasy Level. They're not nice guys and they're always trying to trip the skateboarder (boarder not shown here). The boarder has to be careful lest the Wandering Giant eat him along with the villagers. The giant isn't the main character on this level, he simply appears once in a while when the player least expects it. 

Above, paper panels in the walls of a traditional Japanese house.

For more video game sketches type "video game" in the search box of the Uncle Eddie's Theory Corner right sidebar.

DISNEYLAND ARCHITECTURE [EXPANDED]

Yep, I had another weekend trip to Disneyland! I wish I could have spent the day taking pictures of the interesting people that the park attracts, but I didn't know how to do that without coming home with a black eye, so I photographed architecture instead. See what you think!

I like the idea of giving a high-ceiling room a display gallery like this (above) one. The lower tier of the gallery contains tracks for a model railroad. 

I love complex wooden ceiling/roof structures (above) like the kind you see in Fantasyland.

Here's (above) Minnie's House in Toontown. It's a craftsman bungalow modified to be wonky and super cozy. That 30s/40s look works great. 

The leaf pattern on the sofa works with the green walls.

Opposite the sofa (above) is the fireplace and an intriguing grotto with steps leading to an imaginary second floor.

Next door is Mickey's house (above) and that has a somewhat different fireplace.

Mickey's kitchen lets out into a small sun porch. Here its used as a potting shed or a greenhouse. With screens instead of glass it might be a breakfast room or even a sleeping porch.

I like the storage area (above) in Mickey's house. Those green columns look great! Stained wood is the way to go, but stains need to be repainted every six years or so.

Disneyland is full of ideas that you can adapt to your own real-world situation. I like the idea of having contrasting shapes and thick shelves on the wall.

Borrowing an idea from Adventureland, you could hang things from the ceiling in nets.

Nice banisters, but what are they made of? It looks like a combination of plastic and concrete, but I'm probably wrong. 

Wow! A nice car design! I wish someone would build real cars like this. The front windshield frame could serve as a rollbar as it does here, and the fenders might serve as rubberized shock absorbers protecting the driver from broadside collisions.

Here's (above) what appears to be the second floors of two adjacent buildings. Actually it's one building with two stylized fronts. I'm guessing that the second floor interiors are one extended room with two different levels connected by steps.

Well, that's all I have room for now.

THE AESTHETE

Haw! I looked up "aesthete" on the net and here's (above) what I got.

This type really exists! I wonder if that'll be me somewhere down the line?

MORE OF MY VIDEO GAME IDEAS

Another Theory Corner first: here's more of my video game sketches. In this drawing (above) I tried to give Aztec/Mayan motiffs a sort of Basil Wolverton sensibility.

 Above, some fake Aztec wall decoration (above).

I like the idea of sometimes finding yourself skating in cramped quarters. In a situation like this (above) the possibilities are endless. You can be crushed by the trolley or you can dive into manholes or open doorways that lead to other locales. You can also press yourself against the wall and accept the punches, slaps, kisses, cat scratches, farts, etc. of the passengers and pets leaning out the windows.

I love stuff like this (above).

This thought (above) would have required a total redo if it had been accepted. I was trying to make fun of traditional Japanese furniture which is very low and close to the ground, but the idea doesn't come across here.

Copyrights by the copyright holder.